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A psychiatrist who initially claimed Joel Cauchi was not psychotic when he stabbed 16 people, killing six, in a Sydney shopping center has retracted her statements, labeling them as “conjecture”.
During the coronial inquest on April 13, 2024, a Queensland doctor, who treated Cauchi from 2012 to 2020, reconsidered her earlier evidence where she suggested the attack was not the result of psychosis but rather due to his sexual frustrations and “hatred towards women”.
Cauchi, 40, carried out the mass stabbing at Westfield Bondi Junction on April 13, 2023, resulting in the deaths of Ashlee Good, Jade Young, Yixuan Cheng, Pikria Darchia, Dawn Singleton, and Faraz Tahir, and injuries to 10 others before being shot and killed by police inspector Amy Scott.
“It was shocking evidence to me and my clients,” said Sue Chrysanthou SC, the barrister for the Good, Singleton, and Young families, expressing that Dr. A’s claims were contrary to all expert evidence.
Cauchi’s mother had previously raised concerns regarding her son’s behavior, including beliefs of Satanic control, extreme OCD, compulsive use of porn, and changes in his gait, which were initially considered early warning signs of a psychotic relapse but later attributed to stress and fear from a risky sexual encounter.
Dr. A clarified that while Cauchi’s obsession with sex, including his compulsive use of porn and visits to sex workers, emerged in November 2019, after stopping antipsychotic medication, it was not related to the cessation of the medication.
Chrysanthou suggested that these sexual obsessions were a direct result of him being taken off Abilify earlier that year, but Dr. A thought it was a new phenomenon.
The court continued to examine the processes surrounding Cauchi’s discharge from the psychiatrist when he relocated to Brisbane in 20
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/may/14/bondi-junction-stabbing-inquest-joel-cauchi-psychiatrist-evidence-ntwnfb
